Nili Sacher Fox is Professor of Bible and Director of the School of Graduate Studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. She holds a Ph.D. in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Fox teaches Bible, Archaeology, Ancient History and Languages, and co-directs the Graduate Summer-in-Israel Program. She is totally devoted to mentoring the students at HUC-JIR, Cincinnati, and at any one time advises 8-12 Ph.D. dissertations. Dr. Fox has written on various topics relating to the history and culture of ancient Israel and surrounding peoples, including: In the Service of the King: Officialdom in Ancient Israel and Judah; "Concepts of God in Israel and the Question of Monotheism"; “Gender Transformation and Transgression: Contextualizing the Prohibition of Cross-Dressing in Deut 22:5”; and “Sanctification of Dress: Tassels on Garments”. Currently she is preparing a monograph entitled: On the Ancient Catwalk: Dress and Identity in the Biblical World.

Selected Publications and Edited Works

In the Service of the King: Officialdom in Ancient Israel and Judah (Cincinnati: HUC Press, 2000).

“Marked for Servitude: Mesopotamia and the Bible” in Grant Frame et. al. eds., A Common Cultural Heritage: Studies on Mesopotamia and the Biblical World in Honor of Barry L. Eichler (University Park, Maryland: CDL Press, 2011), 267-278.

“Biblical Sanctification of Dress – Tassels on Garments” in Maxine L. Grossman ed., Built by Wisdom, Established by Understanding: Essays on Biblical and Near Eastern Literature in Honor of Adele Berlin (Bethesda, Maryland: University of Maryland Press, 2013), 91-109.

Current and Future Courses

Introduction to Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Archaeology of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Periods

Summer Archaeology Program in Israel – fieldwork Tel Dan, fieldtrips to sites, lectures on topics relating to Bible and Archaeology

Biblical Poetry

Prophets and Prophecy

Religions of Ancient Israel

Studies in the Book of Numbers

Selections from the Writings

Personal and Communal Prayer in Ancient Israel

Concepts of Social Justice in Israel and the Ancient Near East

Women and Gender Issues in the Torah

Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law

Ancient Israel from Earliest Times to the Roman Period

Egypt and Israel in Ancient Times

A Period of Internationalism – the Ancient Near East in the Second Millennium

Introduction to Middle Egyptian

Public Lecture Topics

“The Book of Ruth Through an Archaeological Lens”

“Bible and Archaeology: What Does a Tel Tell?”

“Our Excavations at Tel Dan”

“Concepts of Honor and Shame in the Bible”

“Israel In and Out of Egypt: An Archaeological View of What to Tell Your Children”

“On the Ancient Catwalk: Dress and Ideology in the Biblical World”

“What Does Archaeology Reveal About Early Israelite Religion and Daily Life?”

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The HUC-JIR website is supported, in part, by the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, the Golden Family Foundation, and the Irma L. and Abram S. Croll Center for Jewish Learning and Culture.